


Alone in The Universe?

by Ciesa_wiie



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 8 years later, Action & Romance, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adventure & Romance, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Scientists, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, In year 2028, Love Confessions, Magic, Near Death Experiences, Not alone in the universe, Romance, Teen Crush, Years Later, adrienette - Freeform, they're 23
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ciesa_wiie/pseuds/Ciesa_wiie
Summary: Adrien and Marinette work together as scientists, without any of them knowing that they were Ladybug and Chat Noir.  One day Marinette catches Adrien in the laboratory after they are finished. She will have to promise him never to tell anyone what she is about to hear, because it might change her life.The golden-haired man is investigating creatures from space and want proof. But after they go together in the spacecraft a magical light appeared and sets them off to Mars.Will they find out one another's identities?The creatures they have been searhing?Or none of the above?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 18





	Alone in The Universe?

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering why Marinette isn't a fashion designer is it, because if AU wouldn't make sense if she was. I still hope you would like to read it!

What if we weren’t alone in the universe?  
What if there were other creatures out there like us?

They could be wondering about the accurate same thing. Wandering around, lost in thought with the same question running through their mind every day. Could there be scientists like us and trying to prove their theory?

Their theory about how there WERE other creatures out there. 

The young blonde sat in the laboratory with the eyes almost touching the microscope. He was too focused to even notice anything around him. He had an enigma to solve and had been waiting for permission too long. His boss was not too happy about the idea and only wanted him to stay focused on the small tasks he was given.  
The thing was that he couldn’t just let the opportunity walk by when he had the chance. 

It wasn’t for nothing they called him troublemaker in high school. Though, he had never tried to skip a lesson or get a worse grade than A-. It wasn’t something IN the school there had made him get the nickname troublemaker. It was how he began to refuse his father’s orders because THAT was the worst thing you could ever do. But he learned from it. He learned that if he showed people that he was worth something, then he could get respect from anyone. {Also his father became impressed}

Everyone but his boss. He never let him DO anything. Adrien always got the small and easy tasks, and that wasn’t what he wanted. The young man wanted to do everything he could, not just investigate how a potato can make electricity.  
He did that in the 8th grade. Like did he /really/ look that young? 

Sure, he didn’t want to grow a beard or anything in the direction like that, but his features were sharp and too clean for a high schooler. His hair was swiped to the right side like it always had, but it had grown longer as the years passed by. If he had his Chat Noir hairstyle it sure would be a mess. His legs were covered by a pair of black trousers. A white layer of a dress shirt covered his muscular arms and chest with a black trench coat made of wool. 

His form was more muscular and his shoulders lean. Although Adrien was a scientist it didn’t stop him from growing muscles. Every morning he started his day at 6 am where he went to the gym. It was the only time a day that there wouldn’t be some women surrounding him and trying to flatter him. That might also be the reason why the Gabriel company still made a lot of money because Adrien came to a deal with his father after he graduated from college and immediately got hired as a scientist. The deal said that Adrien only would model for Gabriel on the weekends and special lines such as the season or holiday lines. Adrien could pass anytime he wanted in the weekends but never when there was a special line coming up. 

His father was impressed and proud of him. It was all the young man wished for.  
Or…  
Almost.

There was one more thing he had wanted his whole life. Okay maybe not his WHOLE life, but ever since he tried to look through a telescope, he had wanted to figure if there really were other creatures out there.  
It was the reason why he sat here in the laboratory, too focused to notice the woman slowly opening the door and sneaked her head in to take a look at the situation.  
Her body had also changed a lot from high school to now. She had gotten curves, grown a few inches taller, even thrown out the pigtail look, and grown her hair long down to her lower back. All the Ladybug fans had cheered for her new hairstyle, and even the ones who had short hair wanted to grow it longer too. There were so many fans for her, but she would never NOT be the number 1 fan of her partner.

It was intimidating to think about how long it truly had been since she saw Chat Noir. 

A banging sound resonated in the room as if it was a “Falling Down Stairs” sound effect. The young blonde stumbled off the chair and almost knocked the microscope off the table. He raised his head with a sign of fear in his eyes, but when he saw who it was he immediately sighed in relief.

It was the smaller framed bluenette there had tripped over her own feet. Only her head was in the room, but when she tried to move closer, the tip of her left shoe knocked into the middle of the right one which caused her to fall into the door. You could think that a ladybug was lucky but that wasn’t the case for this ladybug, because the door opened and made her land on the floor.

There she laid with the arms straighten out and knees on the floor, holding her behind and back up. It was just like being in high school all over again. At least she wasn’t stuttering. Yet.  
“H-hey A-Adrien!”  
Her voice came out nervous and stuttering as she cursed mentally for appearing this way. But it wasn’t like she could help it, because who wasn’t nervous when you just get caught spying on someone?  
“Hi, Marinette!”  
His voice appeared oddly confident, but she had gotten used to it over the years. As the words rolled off his tongue, he approached her and reached his hand out to help her up. 

She just got back up on her feet when Adrien leaned forward and smirked.  
“You weren’t spying on me, now were you?” The words were soft as velvet, but a hint of cockiness was hidden in them too. Her hand he had helped her up with, was pulled behind him which made her stumble forward him. The movement wasn’t harsh as it may have sounded. Instead, it was peculiar slow, and gentle in its own way.  
His face was so close to hers that it frightened her, but he knew she could handle it. After all, they had gotten very close over the years.  
“O-of course not!” Once again she stuttered like a teenage girl in front of her crush. It was unfair that Adrien /still/ could make her feel like that sometimes. But it was more unfair that she never could move on from him /completely/. There was always a place in her mind there told her to stop her actions when she was on a date, about to give a goodnight kiss. That voice always won, and she ended up in a hug instead. Every time.  
It was like he was unable to move on from because there was always a reason to love him. 

“Hmm, you sure?” The sound of his teasing voice pierced her thoughts like a bullet.  
He caught her gaze and scowled playfully at her with the same teasing smirk she had seen on Chat Noir’s lips so many times. It was almost a strange situation for Marinette to look at Adrien and see Chat Noir in him, but it was another thing she had gotten used to.  
“Uh-huh.” Her voice’s appearance was wanted to be cocky and confident, but it was none of them. It could only be that with Chat Noir.

“If you weren’t spying, then what were you doing sneaking around like that?” His voice was light as a feather but sneaky as a fox, and the question was the only question in the whole wide world that she didn’t want to answer.  
“Erm, I just felt like taking a walk around in the building, you know before heading off.” He still looked suspicious down on her with his eyelids closer to each other than usual.  
She could see on him that he wanted more of an answer than that.  
“T-the real question is why are /you/ here when you were supposed to be finished half an hour ago!”  
She added press onto the word ‘you’ and made it sound almost dangerous.  
“Nailed it!” Her inner confident voice cheered as she mentally did a fist bump into the air. There was no way that he now could turn it on her.  
“I just figured that I hadn’t done my task right and wanted to fix it.” He sounded so calm. Too calm. Ah-ha! That was it!

“Adrien, we both know that’s a lie because you never do anything wrong without noticing it less than 30 seconds after.”  
Her voice was smooth and sounded like a whole new person than before.  
“Errr…”  
He couldn’t form his words as she had figured him out, so he chose to tell the truth.  
“Marinette, can you keep a secret?” She was about to answer yes right away, but the blonde’s index finger came up and placed itself on her lips to stop her.  
“And before you say anything you have to be sure about it, because if I tell you and only if, then you can never tell anyone about it.” 

Was this it? The bluenette thought for herself. Would he reveal his identity?  
Marinette had too many theories about Adrien and Chat Noir being the same person for any living being to count.  
“Yes, I promise you, Adrien.”  
She had managed to take his finger off her lips and spoke her answer truly. 

The young man there stood in a near distance across her sighed.  
Was it a relief sigh or an “I’m done” sigh? She didn’t know.  
“Okay…” This time his voice was small and sounded like an “I’m done” sigh.  
He backed a step away and finally moved his gaze from the floor to her eyes.  
“I was in here because I have been searching for proof in a long time.”  
His hand nervously reached for his neck as she replied questionly.  
“Proof for what?”  
Nothing but his heartbeat moved in that second. She promised to not back out, so it was safe for her? After all, she wasn’t the kind of person who betrayed her friends. She wouldn’t go, running off, telling the boss. 

His hand dropped found his neck and down to his side as he decided to tell her the whole thing.  
“Since I was a child I always had this crazy theory about other creatures like us out in the universe. It could be in another galaxy or on Mars, just somewhere out there.”  
He looked over into her bluebell eyes again and saw a little sign of amusement in them. It made him continue, but his voice hasn’t as quiet as before, it was full of courage. “And no, it’s not because I’m thinking there are green aliens with three eyes. I like to believe they could be exactly like us. Smart living beings with knowledge of technology.”  
His eyes stayed focused, and his body tense. He was waiting for a reaction, just any sign from her being was enough to let him know. Anything. He would accept any reaction for her, even if she called him crazy and told him that she would tell on him. 

She caught his gaze as his eyes were about to drift away.  
“So you’re saying that you’re investigating alie- I mean creatures in space or at least you’re trying to figure out if they’re real?”  
She questioned him with both her body language and the English language there floated out her mouth.  
“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m doing!”  
His response was energetic and eager while he was excited about finally telling someone about his plans.

\-------------------------------------------o--------o--------o-----------------------------------------------

“What can I help with?”  
Her question came as the biggest surprise in his entire life. She spoke honeyish sweet and looked at him the dearest deer eyes which made him believe more than anything that it was a dream.  
“Err what?”  
He couldn’t do anything else than just stand there and stare at her. What he thinks he heard couldn’t be what he truly heard, because that would be utterly and extremely insane.  
“I asked what I could do to help you.”  
Why was her voice so smooth? He wondered for himself while a piece of his mind told him to be grateful for the offer. It wasn’t like he didn’t feel grateful and appreciated it, but it would be dangerous to have her on the mission. He could risk his own life but not someone else’s. It was his inner superhero there were one of the reasons why he was chosen to be Chat Noir. He would never get anyone danger, even if it meant risking his own life.

Back to reality, there was nothing with risking lives and putting people in danger. Or at least, there wasn’t for now.

“Yeah-yeah, I heard it. I just couldn’t believe it.”  
It was his own mouth the words flew out of, but why did it feel like it wasn’t?  
He still didn’t want to put the woman across him in danger, but could he tell her that? 

In a quick movement, her hands were placed on her waist while she tilted her head to the side.  
“Why is that so hard to believe?”  
The expression there had formed on her face was prim and prissy. Nothing could hide it. She was offended and felt like she didn’t have the time of any of his hogwash. 

Her expression, body language, and from the way the words almost snapped at him, he placed his hands out for defense. Woah, she could scare him from times to times.  
“It’s not hard to believe. You just never seemed to be into space and things like that.”

“I never seemed to like physics either, but look at me now,” her hands moved from her waist and entered the air in an “I Don’t Know” position. Instead of having the ignorance expression on her face, she had a doubtless and courageous expression. 

“Yeah, why did you even begin to like science if you hated physics?”  
The golden-haired man asked questionly. That was a thing Adrien never understood because Marinette had always complained when they had a test in physics. 

“I never said I hated it. I just didn’t understand it, but then you helped me. Have you already forgotten that?”  
She added extra pressure on the word “hated” while her hands found a place beside her hips again. Small frown lines on her forehead were formed as she asked her question.

“No, I haven’t. But why didn’t you get a tutor or anything like that if you wanted to learn it?”  
He looked too precious at the moment that the smaller framed girl almost couldn’t bring herself to say that she never wanted to be better at physics. It was only because Alya felt she needed a push. Even without asking Marinette, she told Nino to give small hints to Adrien about their blue-haired friend. Somehow it ended up with Marinette locked in the library with Adrien. Not literally locked, but she knew that if she even thought about escaping, Alya would be standing on the other side of the door with the sharpest thing she had close. That was how she ended up learning physics, and Adrien had been the best teacher in a lifetime. He explained the most difficult parts as different things there made her remember it. Sometimes he could be comparing formula to anything she found interesting. It was almost becoming too easy and before she had to look around, she found herself loving science and physics. But should or could she tell Adrien that?  
“Erm, I actually can’t remember…” It was a dumb thing to lie, but today wasn’t the day to confess, she had learned that a long time ago. “It also doesn’t matter anymore. What matters now is that you tell me what we are going to do and what you were doing before I walked in.”

“First off, you fell in, not walked,” his stupid smirk was back on, and his teasing voice came was a descendant. “And I was investigating a piece of a sand dune from Mars-”  
His explanation was interrupted by the small woman, pressing her head into his personal space as she exclaimed eagerly:  
“Grit sand from Mars? What are you talki-” Once again her mouth was closed. The golden-haired man had stopped her words by using his thumb and index finger to hold her lips together.  
“Nope, you can’t interrupt.” He shook his head and moved his free index finger to and fro in a teasing manner.  
“Fiiine…” The sound of her voice was muffled by his fingers which made him remove them.

“As I was trying to say, I had a robotic spacecraft sent to Mars for half a year ago, and now it finally came back.” The blonde looked over at the bluenette, searching for a reaction. Her eyes followed up his form and landed on his eyes at last with a glow in them. The one-head taller man continued explaining: “I had it programmed to take a sample of the soil to see if there was any chance for living beings to survive.”  
His hands were moving in small quick movements by his side. Each finger tapped the thumb of the hand and began over again when it was finished.

“And? What was the result?”  
She moved close up to his face, eager to know the answer. It was now his turn to become a high schooler again because no matter how many years he had denied it, he always knew Marinette had a special place in his heart. Her face was between 5 and 7 inches away from his. The rush of his blood began moving like a tsunami had started in his veins and made thousands of big waves there searched the same way. To his face.  
His cheeks were a dark shade of crimson. If you looked close enough, you could see that the tips of his ears were too. 

“So?”  
Her sugar-sweet voice pierced his flustered trance like a bullet, and he shook his head while backing away.  
“Well, I would have found out by now, but you kinda interrupted me.”  
The young man added pressure on the word “kinda” and gave her a sly grin.  
She had lost all words, and the only thing there seemed to come out was: “Oh.”  
Whether she should apologize or not was unknown to her, that was why she choose to stay quiet. 

“Now that we figured that out, will you still like to help?”  
He tried to change the subject which worked perfectly.  
“Of course I will!”  
She smiled up at him with the sweetest bluebell eyes.  
“Perfect! To the spaceship then!”  
He pointed the right hand out in the direction of the door and used the other hand to take hers in.  
“Wait what-”  
The little scientist never got to protest as she only was dragged by Adrien out of the door and to the spacecraft.

~o~o~o~

As the two friends walked closer to the robotic spacecraft, the woman became more and more shocked about how big it was close up. It was a lot more stylish than the spaceships you saw in movies as a child. It almost looked like a robot there had dressed up to a very formal ball. Adrien had seen it before and even been inside, so it wasn’t new for him. Though, he would like to see Marinette’s reaction as they would go inside.  
They walked side by side, the same step, the same path. The air between them was silent, but it was the comfortable one. 

The big spacecraft was white with the usual black stripes where it was melted together.  
It stood horizontal and ready for departure. There was a corridor like the ones on cruise ships. The young blonde did a small hop and jogged a few steps in front of the woman he got to know 9 years ago. His right elbow bent which made his hand point left as he bent down in a bow.  
“After you, little lady.” The nickname there only was used once before slipped through his lips as he showed with his hand the way up the corridor for her. His eyes focused on hers, waiting for a sign of action.  
A giggle was heard, and all of a sudden a few more follow the path. Her sweet giggle brought a chuckle from himself as she curtsied like she always had wished to do when she was wearing a skirt.  
Her fingers reached the soft fabric of her black skirt with three small horizontal ruffles on. It matched her wool knitted high-heeled shoes there were black too. She was wearing black nylon stockings there weren’t too thin, because it wasn’t that warm outside yet. A white dress shirt there was a size too big from the shoulders to the end of the sleeves covered her upper body. She had always loved fashion, but never made clothes herself. Although, she had taste. You could that from the way her red cotton coat made perfect counteraction in her outfit.

The nickname was turned back on him as she replied in the same teasing manner.  
“Why thank you, kind knight!”  
It brought a smile out on his lips, and it stayed there as he pressed the big opening button. The big chalk-white entrance gate opened, and they both walked in.

Inside, it looked like it was designed to support human lives for life-changing missions. Everything was clean and looked too shiny to be real. The bluenette walked in the middle of the room with the blonde following behind. She stood there turning around to give a glance at every little detail. Before today, she had never thought about space and seeing spacecraft, but here she stood in a spacecraft and had only for a few minutes ago agreed to investigate space. 

“It’s incredible, isn’t it?”  
His words were slow and careful not to interrupt her admiration. He had slowly stepped behind her and talked right next to her ear. The sound of his voice was being so close, startled her at first, but then she focused on his breathing and got lost in it.  
“Yeah, it’s so beautiful.”  
Her words were breathless and slow as well. 

“Enough admiring, we’re here for reason.”  
He playful gave her upper back two light slap as he spoke. She let out a fake “Ouch” and immediately rubbed where his hand had been.  
“I know, but I haven’t been in a spacecraft like you Mr. Model.”  
She retreated her hand to only sway out with her index finger in a teasing and a bit snobby way when she gave him a new nickname.  
“Hey! I have a name, you know!”  
While the words floated out between his lips, a frown line appeared between his eyebrows.

Marinette was just about to respond with a teasing remark when a light blinded their sight. It was powerful and had some sort of aura of it. Suddenly both of them were slipped up into the air. Their feet lost connection with the ground, and their bodies were turned horizontal. It was like they were in space already with no connection to gravity. The two scientists flew in the air on their stomach without having any control over which direction the headed. It seemed like the air chose it for them, and before 2 seconds had passed were they already settled in the seats behind the big window. The hundreds of different seat belts were tightened around them, and all of a sudden a boom was heard. 

The blast lasted under a second but was followed by many flames lighting. The noises were too loud for any living being to handle, that was why the two adults fought against the seatbelts to reach the earmuffs hanging over the control panel. The seatbelts only tightened themselves closer to their bodies and made them unmoveable.  
“Adrien! Do you have any idea how we will get the earmuffs!?”  
There was nothing about speaking. Everything she said was shouted, and the golden-haired man couldn’t hear a lot of it but sensed the word ‘earmuffs’.  
“Earmuffs!?”  
He shouted back, and abruptly one of the earmuffs was wrapped around his ears.  
Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the noises disappeared from his ears. Without noticing, he quickly moved to look at Marinette who sat in shock while still struggling. 

Adrien reached between one of the seatbelts with his fingers and caught her wrist between them. Her eyes snapped to his, and he saw a startled and full of fear look in her eyes. He squeezed her wrist comforting while shouting:  
“Say earmuffs!”  
He tried to put the most confident look in his eyes to calm her down.  
“Earmuffs?!”  
She was still upset, but it worked and the earmuffs flew up and blocked all noises out from her ears.  
“Yes!”  
The 23-year old man did a fist bump, but it ended up hurting himself by the seat belts tightening. Marinette smiled and giggled sweetly of his clumsiness, but her giggling stopped when the spacecraft moved faster than the light’s speed. It was lucky their heads already were tightened to the headrest or else it would have been now.  
The screams from the darkest place in their throats escaped, and their hair flew back. 

Stars and sparkles surrounded them as nothing made sense. His fingers there had locked around her wrist moving to find her own fingers. She made no sign of hesitation and grabbed his hand in a quick movement. Their fingers interlocked and almost squeezed the life out of each other. Their breathing became heavier and in pants. Salty drops of sweat ran down from the forehead. Their hands clung together as they fell out of consciousness.

~o~o~o~o~

A pair of eyes fluttered slowly open as a light blinded the sight. The pair of eyes scanned the surroundings and figured that the last 20 minutes weren’t a dream. The emerald green eyes rushed to look over at the still unconscious blue-haired woman. 

What happened?

From what he could remember there was a light or some sort of wind there took control over the spacecraft. No matter what happened, they were still out in space and none of them knew how to board a spaceship. 

“Ugh…”  
He heard a groan and quickly turned over to see the smaller framed woman flutter with the eyes. Slowly the left eye opened and then the right. The light was still too bright, and it made her sway the eyelids closer to each other.  
“Hey? Are you hurt?”  
The blonde asked quiet and careful because from the groan it sounded like she was in pain.  
“No… Not what I know of.”  
Her voice was fragile and a bit hoarse. "My head hurts though."  
"Can you turn it? Maybe you're injured."  
He caressed her skin in her palm slowly and without noticing it himself.  
She shifted in the seat to become more comfortable while her head turned in his direction.  
"Maybe..."  
She murmured before whining when Adrien touched her right temple.  
"Does it hurt a lot?"  
He tried to keep eye contact, but it wasn't easy when the person had closed eyes.  
"Maybe four on a 10-scale."  
Her coworker sighed in relief but urged to know:  
"Can you manage?"  
His eyes searched an answer however her eyes only danced with sparkles.  
"Yeah, it's just a little scratch."  
She used her voice to make it sound like nothingness.  
"Phew, I guess I was getting concerned over nothing then."  
He wiped his forehead as if he was sweating. 

“And at least that’s one thing there’s good.”  
Adrien muttered for himself but forgot that Marinette was close enough to hear it.  
“What do you mean with that?  
She questioned, raising one of the eyebrows.  
“It’s just that no one of us knows how to board this spaceship, and we don’t even know where we are.”  
His gaze moved to the control panel, and his voice became fragile like hers was a second ago.

Like lightning from a clear sky, the spacecraft began quivering before slowly shaking. It was swaying from side to side, faster and faster. The two adults gave one another a quick glance as their hands grasped harder together as if their life depended on it. The bluenette’s right hand held the blonde’s left one. With their free hands, they pressed their nails into the material of the armrest. The woman was the first of them to feel dizzy. Although, it was the spaceship there swayed it felt like she was spinning. Her mind was running wild, thinking through all the possibilities of what might happen. The coworker noticed her discomfort but was feeling too light-headed to do anything about it.  
The swaying became so fast that with every swing it reached half of the spaceship. A swing was now faster than a second, and unexpectedly it spun the whole way around.

The moment stopped and played over in slow motion. The empty space was dark but in its own way full of the bright stars. The spacecraft was like the black sheep in the middle of all the beautiful stars and planets. The sun filled up the darkness with its shine, but it couldn’t fix the fact that the two scientists were about to throw up. Instantaneously an enormous black hole with the wormhole appeared out of the blue. The great size made the spaceship look like nothing compared to it. Maybe it was because it would become nothing as the wormhole surrounded their protection from all sides. 

In a blink, the spacecraft was absorbed by the gigantic hole. Disparate colors were filling the hole from the inside, and millions of colors you never had seen together were combined. The spaceship was still at the maximum speed which made their heads press further into the headrest, but at least it wasn’t spinning. 

The bluebell and emerald green eyes were locked on the glamorous sight, but it didn't last long. The wormhole had come to an end, and their spaceship was spat out. They had been pulled through a wormhole, but instead of bringing them into another dimension, it brought them to the smaller look-alike Earth planet. Mars. Even though none of them ever had believed in this sort of magic, the unique enchanting breeze had brought them out in space to grant their wish. 

The rocket had finally slowed its pace down which made them get a break to breathe in a normal pattern. They looked out of the big window and saw the magnificent planet in front of them. It was half of the Earth's size but still looked like the largest planet they had ever seen. 

Their mysteriously magical spaceship approached the planet and directed itself more and more vertical. The youthful guy had watched enough space movies to know how a rocket landed, but the more petite lady never had and was astonished to see how simple the enchantment could arrive with the huge machine. 

The significant spacecraft encountered the ground with a bellow, and the seatbelts loosened immediately from their bodies. The young woman sucked in a breath after not being able to breathe naturally and relaxed in more than hours. The older boy followed path not even a minute after and panted as well. 

They supported one another up from the seats and went to search for spacesuits. It didn't take long to find them- they are in the second closet they had looked in -but it took much longer to get them on. Adrien was the one with much experience, therefore he helped Marinette to get it on first.  
When their bodies were covered in the white spacesuits, they took the helmets and walked proudly forwards the gateway. 

"I need you to stay here until I have figured out if it's safe."  
He had turned to her and looked dead-serious in her eyes.  
"Adrien, we both know that's not going to happen... Because no matter what you say or do, I won't let you go out there alone. "  
She took a step closer and placed her hand on his shoulder to show comfort.  
"You don't understand. It's dangerous!"  
His voice was firm, clear but mostly strong. Her hand there was on his shoulder was received by his own hand and placed in the space between them. He had planted both his hands around it and held it there.  
"And that's exactly why I can't let you go out there alone!"  
She caught both his hands and held one in each of her hands.

His actions froze while he looked at the woman across him, shocked by her own achievements. She hurried to retreat her hands by her side only to look back up at him. He was astounded by her words but indeed more by her voice.  
"Marinette..."  
He tried with his voice full of kindness, but she had no mercy with him.  
"No! We are going together!"  
She passed her index between them in a loose "no" gesture. 

Abruptly, the young man went silent and took the small helmet from the desk behind her. He placed it on her head tightened the laces there needed to. He could hear her trying to protest, but he only moved his index to his mouth in a hush gesture while he said:  
"You win. We are going together, but let me walk in front of you?"  
She nodded firmly and multiple times as a response. 

On the desk, he found his helmet and got it on as well. He held his hand out for her to take it which she did. Through the thick layers of fabric, she could still feel the warmth from his being.

The large gateway opened, and the wind flowed in. They stared out in the sandy surroundings, wondering when the first step should be taken.  
"3." his voice chimed in her ears while she looked to see what he was doing.  
"2." He was counting down as the look in his eyes eased.  
"1." They said in sync, holding each other's gaze.  
"Go!" In a hop, they switched about the air in their secure spacecraft to the new and inexperienced air on the planet, Mars.

Dust swirled up to all sides, but it wasn't relevant at the moment.  
They had jumped onto Mars for God's sake!  
Exchanging smiles every little second, only to show how happy they were.  
The blonde pointed with his free hand at some sand dunes to show that it was the sand he robot had brought home. 

They wandered up to the dunes and looked over the scenery. It was strange how everything went perfectly, because if it was so easy, why were they the first ones to take the voyage?

Too soon...  
All too soon.

Adrien coughed and lost balance. His coughing wasn't like a normal "I'm sick" cough. It was something else, but what?

He stumbled into Marinette which made her open her arms to catch him.  
She needed to get him back to the spacecraft as fast as possible. It was the only place she could take the helmet off and see what was wrong. 

It was difficult for the small woman to hold the much bigger man up.  
She took his left arm and swept it over her left shoulder, holding her left hand locked around his wrist. With the right arm, she held around his torso and did her best to transport him. She could both see and feel that he was about to give up breathing because of the way he snapped for air. His arms became weak and began to weight much more.  
"Oh no..." She thought for herself. She had come to realize that no matter how fast she dragged him, she couldn't get to the spacecraft in time.  
She needed to do something now!

That was why she sat down in the dust and laid his head on her lap. She tried to look for anything there could have made him cough but couldn't find anything. His eyes were fluttering, almost shutting down.  
"M-Mari..."  
His voice was too weak and fragile. It made small salty drops of water form in her eyes.  
"Y-yes."  
She found herself stuttering and feeling weak too.  
"I-I need to t-tell you s-something."  
He was using all his power to try breathing, but nothing seemed to work, and she still couldn't find the reason.  
"Yes, A-Adrien. What is it?"  
"I was-" Suddenly in the middle of his sentence, he got a coughing seizure.  
"You were what?"  
Her eyes focused on his as she felt like she needed to focus more on his words than finding the problem.  
His coughing slowed down and came in shocks. He snapped one last time for air as the two most important words came out between his lips.  
"Chat Noir..."  
His eyes shut closed while the coughing stopped. 

"No." This couldn't be it. "No." She needed to find a solution. "NO!"  
Wet salty tears dropped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.  
S-she. Couldn't let this happen.  
Her hands began searching as if they were on fire, and she moved his hair from his neck. There!  
There was an opening. The helmet had gotten free and left him without any chance of getting oxygen. She hurried to put it back in place as she wished for all the times she had watched a shooting star that he would make it. 

She threw her arm around his middle and swept his left arm around her shoulder like before. But this time she ran. She ran for all the times she had rejected Chat Noir, the times she had brushed off the little signs about them being the same person, but most importantly she ran for all the times he had confessed his love for her. 

They say that you get extra power when you are in fear or in a near-death situation. Marinette was in both because she didn't know what she would do if Adrien didn't have a chance. 

The spacecraft was finally insight, and it came as a relief for the miserable bluenette. Her legs were beginning to hurt, but there was no way she would stop now. The spacecraft was only ten feet away now, but Adrien's arm was about to fall off her shoulder as her hand almost couldn't hold around his wrist anymore. 

Three feet.  
Two feet.  
One foot.

Her hand couldn't manage to hold so much weight anymore, so his wrist slipped between her fingers. 

NO!

She wouldn't let it happen!

That was why she jumped. She jumped all that she could to get Adrien's body in the spacecraft too.  
"Close doors!"  
She shouted with the last sound of her voice.  
The doors closed immediately after sensing her voice.

She grabbed the sides of his helmet and pulled it off as fast as possible, but also without hurting him.  
She threw it somewhere in the room before yanking hers off and throwing it away too.  
She cupped his cheeks with both hands and sighed in relief as she still could feel the warmth. Her fingers wanted to caress his soft skin, but there was no time for that. He needed oxygen, so he will get that.

She opened his mouth with her fingers and immediately pressed her mouth against his. She blew all her air into him, wanting and needing him to come back to her. Telling herself to quit thinking about how delicate his lips were when this was extremely serious, and she wasn't supposed to kiss, only save him. She disconnected their mouths to take another breath. She snapped after air but didn't seem to care, because right now she needed to give it to him.  
Once again their mouths connected as she blew oxygen into him, down his throat, and wanted it to get through his lunges. 

Unexpectedly, her partner coughed and she hurried to give him space, even though she wanted nothing else than embrace him. With her left hand, she helped him up in a sitting position, and with her right, she patted his back. He coughed and snapped for air. The bluebell eyes looked at the zipper of the spacesuit and saw that it was almost choking him. In a rush, her fingers pulled it down and finally gave him a better entrance for the air to come down to his lunges. 

His breathing came under control, and he finally managed to talk.  
"Marinette..."  
His voice was hoarse and still weak from all the coughing.  
"Adrien..."  
Hearing the sound of his voice was the best thing there had ever had to her. Feeling his heartbeat under her fingertips and listening to his breathing patterns. It had never felt so good.  
She could have lost him.  
He could have been gone.  
Gone like how she thought she would never see Chat Noir again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 years ago, the night breeze had been as usual mellow with a touch of a gentle moist, but nothing was as it seemed. There, on top of the Eiffel Tower, an oddly familiar black box with dissimilar red patterns was settled. Within spitting distance of the box was an envelope putten. With formal and scrupulous handwriting there was written:

For the heroes of Paris

The letter was pulled out of the envelope and gently straighten out. The words came insight and were read out loud.

Ladybug and Chat Noir

I came to realize that this isn’t what I want. I only used the butterfly miraculous for evil, because my wife died, and I felt like the best part of me did too.  
I had been taking too many risks over the years, and it has now come to an end.  
I’m giving up the miraculous with hope for getting to live my life normal again.  
I know that you can never forgive me for my actions, and I won’t forgive myself either. But I’m asking you to let me go after you receive this letter. 

-The man behind Hawk Moth

That day became a day where all civilians in Paris celebrated for the heroes. They celebrated because there was no more evil, but when the evil was defeated there was no reason for superheroes anymore.

It was the day she saw her sweet kwami, but it was also the day she had been saying goodbye to Chat Noir.

Or that was at least what she thought at that moment, but now she knew that both Adrien and Chat Noir wasn't gone. They were right here. He was here and she would never let go off him.

"What are you thinking about?"  
Adrien's still weak voice pierced her thoughts like a bullet.  
"I-I..." She didn't know what to say. Now what she knew how many times he had confessed his love for her, how could she do the same?  
A finger came up and wiped the drops of raw emotion away.  
"Hey, talk to me."  
His hand stayed on her cheek as he turned her gaze to him.  
"I love you."  
Her confession was sudden, and nothing like the 14-years old Marinette would have guessed. She simply had to say it. It was burning her insides and had it get out.  
"You love me?" He appeared uncertain and shaky, but deep inside he needed her to say it again to make him believe it.  
"Yes, I do." Her cheeks were burning red as she confirmed her confession. Although, the young woman- there only a second ago had settled free a desire there had burned inside of her 9 years -sounded confident and full of courage.  
"And before you respond, I need to tell you something else too."  
The look in his eyes changed into a more concerned one, but she was ready. He had revealed himself, now it was hers turn.  
"I was Ladybug."  
If you thought he was slack-jawed before, look again because now he was shocked. His eyes widened, and his jaw was by the floor.  
"You're My Lady?"  
His expression was already changed again. His eyes were glowing and dancing with sparkles.  
"Yes, I'm your lady."  
Deep down inside, she had always loved that nickname, and now hearing him say it as Adrien was even double as good.

They sat on the floor, but that didn't stop him from scooping her into his embrace. He took her from under the arms and lifted her up on top of him.  
His arms locked securely around her lower back as he pushed his face into her neck and whispered: "I love you too."


End file.
